Ashburn
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Ash blushed for a moment, his smile looking forced now. Hoping Eric hadn't noticed he turned to face the ceiling. It took a moment for him to collect his thoughts, before he said
"Well I've had a few crushes but never really any relationships. As I said before I was born in Montreal so my family never pressured me to conform to the typical American mold of a man. I even kissed a guy, well neighborhood kid, when I was 6. It never really alarmed my parents, after all Canada is very open minded and being gay was seen as normal and at worst something worth a couple of laughs." Ash smiled at the memories of living in Montreal as a kid "But moving to Alabama changed that, or at least in the community. Gulfport was a proud confederate stronghold, complete with the KKK meeting in the town hall as if it was normal. So my sexuality was quickly buried, by both me and my parents. I pretended to date one girl, but she was just a friend and she moved away leaving me friendless soon after... Sorry I shouldn't bore you with my sob stories. It wasn't all bad, after all I read every book in the library and well porn is worth something"
Ash laughed at his cheap joke, doing his best not to look at Eric. He had just said it, he was gay. And his heart was racing loudly as he waited for their friendship to fall apart around him. But he'd had to say it, he didn't know why but he felt like he had to.